A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

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bigtoe
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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by bigtoe » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:14 am

i can tell you at least via email - larry/tape op hasn't changed a bit since 96...

i remember suggesting an article and larry asked if i'd do it...i saw a then-recent tape-op and thought - "outta my league" and passed it to someone... i thought, you know, tape op had gone 'big time.'

a few years later i realize - i missed the point. larry and crew aren't climbing to another league...they're inviting everyone in...

sounds corny - but it's seemes to be how they run it.

as far as the reviews...all nice things are unbelievable...soft...and it really does seem to pander to the manufacturers who want decent reviews.

also as far as price? who cares? it's an overrated bitch.

Mike

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by bannerj » Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:20 pm

normally I feel like a shit for reading through forums like this one. I wonder if there is something wrong with me. why do I waste so much time reading through all this bickering. Its like watching Jerry Springer. please. please. don't tell me that any of you guys watch that show. please.

I think I am mostly fascinated by this particular forum because it is a group of engineer/artists arguing what authenticity really is. you are all so afraid of being considered sell outs that you have created various ways to test and sort out what you believe to be true music production. is this a result of great or shit gear? I don't know. I am a novice.

Strangely I am somehow even encouraged by these rantings. it feels like you are all trying to protect what is so important: true, authentic music. maybe it would be best to stop all the bickering and do a trade of what music these people are actually making. is this Al person so fucking great? What kind of music does he make? is it so real and true and important?

I love tape op. I am definitely an addict. It is not just about techinical know-how. It is about a community of people who promote the craft and concern for good music.

I think this Al person has backed himself into a corner. Everything he is saying has little to do with tapeop and more with him being the new elitist who is right and everybody else is just sell outs.

I cannot cannot cannot believe that anyone would accuse Larry of catering to industry or $$. Weird.

How do you guys manage so much time for these rants? Do you write while you are backing up? Or do you stay up late at night and vent?

I am a teacher...and on my off period...and now for coffee.

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by bannerj » Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:22 pm

did I mention that I am a tape op freak?

nutone
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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by nutone » Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:55 pm

i skipped around this thread and didnt read all of them so sorry if i'm repeating anything, but i was just thinking about this stuff as i was reading reveiws in the new issue so...
i think its nice that tape op reviews all kinds of gear. i think its important to rememebr that since tape op has started, larry, john, andy, etc.. have grown as engineers and studio owners. hopefully we all have... And obviously as that happens, we will all be taking interest in more high end stuff and hopefully, being able to afford it as well. i would feel bad if larry was ONLY still reviewing a porta studios and mackies today...
i also think its easy to get suspicious of a magazine that doesnt have any negative reveiws. i find myself doing it quite often but i really do respect and understand why larry would avoid this... who does it benifit? if you dont see reviews of something you are thinking of buying in any of the magazines, dont buy it! there is probably a reason it hasnt been reveiwed... (like cd reveiws, why would you reveiw a shitty band? you are only giving them press. best thing you can do is not waste space in your magazine)
the other cool thing about tape op is that most of the regular reveiwers are "real" engineers. I find this more valuable than anything. i wont name names, but there are certain people who's engineering talents i respect and others who i dont. this makes it easy on whos opinion to trust... if xxx reviewer says something is great and i just heard a record he did the other day that sounds like ass... well, then i probably will think twice about buying that peice of gear... and if its a reviewer ive never heard of (as with many other mags), i'll usually check out the basic product description but ignore any opinions... ( ie. If you were standing at the counter at guitar center and some stoned hippie standing next to you starts telling you how you have to buy the new flux-capacitor from groove tubes, are you going to believe him?)
keep up the good work guys,
thanks

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by nutone » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:04 pm

ps. i was very pleased to see eric valentine in the latest issue. while i despise 3rd eye blind and smashmouth as bands, the production of those records along with the death ray record and a few others ive heard is amazing. he is a truly creative guy from what i can tell.

pps. if anyone who has any pull in the matter is reading, i'd still love to see an adam kasper article. i truly believe he is the guy getting the most creative and amazing sounds around for the last 5-10 years and somehow mixing things to be tottally friendly to the average non sonic minded audiences.

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by trodden » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:07 pm

AlSmith wrote:Yeah -- repaying you for your little smooching. Seriously -- I've read this forum for a while, and you guys are a bunch of infantile little crybabies. Some of you constantly poke fun at others, but when it comes to taking it yourselves, you act like a bunch of little pussies. Later -- you guys aren't amusing anymore.
I poked in your mom last night.

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by Bear's Gone Fission » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:12 pm

OMFG, call the cops, Larry isn't running articles on remastering Steely Dan or on tracking whatever autotuned tramp of the month.

I assume what you record or don't record matters to all of you, at least aesthetically and in terms of your job/hobby satisfaction. So let's all villify a guy who starts a magazine as a labor of love and exercises editorial control so it contains a bunch of articles about music he cares about. What, are you jealous because your situation makes you work on music you abhor?

Even if you're not going to grow the fuck up, the first amendment says he can publish what he pleases. Your recourse? You don't like it, buy copies of another magazine or start your own.

Or write for the magazine. Submit content that you think puts it closer to the place you should be. They aren't obligated to use it, but if it's good, they may well do so. The movers at the magazine don't do this full time, they don't have a ton of free time, so they will happily work with what comes to them. So put up or shut the fuck up.

Bear

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by nutone » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:13 pm

I cannot cannot cannot believe that anyone would accuse Larry of catering to industry or $$. Weird.
would this really be a bad thing? is it wrong to want to make money doing what you love? i dont see the problem with it.

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by bannerj » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:22 pm

nutone: this begs the question that I was getting at...what does it mean to be authentic or to make real music. It is impossible to have a constructive converstation about what it means to be a sell out.

I don't think that because you want to make money at something you love...that you are therefore a sellout. What I pick up from Al is that he might think this.

I like'd the EV piece. I was suspicious at first--why such a huge mainstream producer being reviewed in TO? Then it made sense when the piece pointed out how he was still into helping out bands because he like their music.

I also like the way Larry tries to keep costs down so that he doesn't scare away work from artists that might seem interesting.

No there is nothing wrong with making money on music. The question is when the money starts to dictate the type of music you make...but that might be a whole nother forum.

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by nutone » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:33 pm

yeah i suppose i was a little more excited cause i've been a longtime fan of eric's work and knew about the more indie minded stuff he's done (i'm from the bay area and he's recorded a couple for my friends bands) and had played with his old band t-ride a few times so i kinda knew he wasnt just some ponytailed bmw producer guy. (although he might have a ponytail and drive a bmw at this point for all i know, but you get the idea)

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by i am monster face » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:39 pm

How many times do you have to say later before you actually leave?

Ian

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by Knights Who Say Neve » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:47 pm

I am really annoyed by all this. I started a thread about a trend in the Tape Op review section, and you all decided to turn it into the AlSmith show. Assholes should be ignored. You're just encouraging him. AND HIJACKING MY THREAD.


But, I forgive you all :D
"What you're saying is, unlike all the other writers, if it was really new, you'd know it was new when you heard it, and you'd love it. <b>That's a hell of an assumption</b>". -B. Marsalis

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by TapeOpLarry » Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:27 am

Sorry Knights.

yes, maybe there is a trend. I dunno. I hope it varies issue by issue. I wish more people made new gear that was cheap and good (like the Audix i5). I like having the old gear reviews in there too, but we don't get as many submissions as I would imagine.

I wouldn't think it's something to get too upset about. And it certainly isn't part of any master plan!
Larry Crane, Editor/Founder Tape Op Magazine
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com

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Re: A Disturbing Trend in the Tape OP Reviews...

Post by syrupcore » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:15 am

AlSmith wrote:I'm the new leader of this magazine/forum. It's time for Larry to

Al, did you forget that I'm a moderator here? You're not. Enjoy. -LC

step down, and you guys need to smooch my bottom instead. Larry's a rockstar, now. Writing articles about Eric Valentine,

I didn't write that. JJ did.

going to the Paradiso in Amsterdam,

On my own dime. -LC

keeping telefunken reissues that he was supposed to give a disinsterested review of --

Al, I kept the mic because it actually saved my ass on a session and made someone sound really great. -LC

it's time for someone like me, or maybe inverse room, to take over the reins of leadership, and for Larry to surround himself with buttsmoochers like Dave on his quest to become an industry "Producer" so he can make more money.

If that's my goal I'm doing pretty fucking bad at it! -LC

I'm you new leader -- that's just the way it is. Fuck larry. Sorry, bro, you're out.

Thanks Al. What a sweetheart. -LC
ok, that was fair.

You're damn right that was fair. -LC

I know larry. you rock.

No Will, you rock. Remind me to review your CD in the next issue. I really loved the last one. Great guitar sounds. -LC

shucks larry, thanks. will do. Can I quote you on that?

Sure man, sure. Maybe you should get some sleep now. -LC

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